Difference between revisions of "Learn/Where's-Your-Traffic-Coming-From"
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There’s a lot of buzz about social media’s role in online business these days. It’s easy to get sucked in and think it’s everything. While the importance of [[Learn/Social-Media|social media]] as part of a solid traffic generation strategy is continuing to grow, you have to bear in mind that the type of business you’re starting and your niche will affect how useful social media is for you. | There’s a lot of buzz about social media’s role in online business these days. It’s easy to get sucked in and think it’s everything. While the importance of [[Learn/Social-Media|social media]] as part of a solid traffic generation strategy is continuing to grow, you have to bear in mind that the type of business you’re starting and your niche will affect how useful social media is for you. | ||
| − | In general, social media may end up being more useful for relationship building than traffic generation. Still important, but a different function. The bottom line is the social media sites haven’t replaced search engines for sheer numbers of traffic – and social media traffic can often be harder to monetize than search engine traffic. This is because searchers are looking for information and solutions, whereas social media participants are generally just hanging out and browsing. | + | '''In general''', social media may end up being more useful for relationship building than traffic generation. Still important, but a different function. The bottom line is the social media sites haven’t replaced search engines for sheer numbers of traffic – and social media traffic can often be harder to monetize than search engine traffic. This is because searchers are looking for information and solutions, whereas social media participants are generally just hanging out and browsing. |
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Revision as of 20:41, 2 May 2011
By [[User:|]] on
Contents
Starting a website, starting a web business
When it comes to starting a website - especially one you hope will make you money - you need ask yourself how you'll get traffic to your site. How will people find your website, and will they be the right people - the ones who need or want what you're selling?
Different traffic sources are going to produce differing kinds of visitors, and in differing volumes. They'll also produce different return on investment (ROI), whether that investment is your time, your money or both. To help you consider which traffic sources make sense for you, I'm outlining the pros and cons of each source.
Organic Search Traffic
"Organic search" refers to the results that show up when you type an inquiry into a search engine - not the ads, but the listings that are deemed most relevant to the search by the search engine's algorithm.
the informative pages that show up when you type a query into Google. Getting good search engine rankings for the right keywords has the best potential for generating large amounts of targeted traffic to your site. The best part is, once you get good rankings with organic results, the traffic is free. That means any sales or revenue you make from that traffic is all profit.
Of course, it’s not that simple. Getting good rankings for valuable keyword takes a lot of time and effort. It can take months to get a new site established and years to get to the top for particularly competitive keywords. If you’re doing all the work yourself, you’ll have to put in a lot of effort initially with little pay off. If you’re hiring the work out, be prepared to make an initial investment of several hundred to several thousand dollars (depending on your niche) before you start seeing a return.
In other words, search engine optimization can be a costly avenue up front and takes a while to work, but in the long run, if you get good rankings it will pay for itself many times over. Your long-term costs of doing business will be lower. Find out more about hiring an effective SEO content writer.
Paid Search Traffic
PPC ads are the ones you see at the top and to the right of search results, or in Ads by Google blocks on content sites. The plus side of PPC is that it gives you a very immediate look at your return on investment. You can see whether you’re making a profit or not very quickly.
On the downside, there’s a steep learning curve to creating ads that generate profits. And, most of all, you need to bear in mind that the moment you stop handing over advertising dollars, the traffic disappears.
Social Media
There’s a lot of buzz about social media’s role in online business these days. It’s easy to get sucked in and think it’s everything. While the importance of social media as part of a solid traffic generation strategy is continuing to grow, you have to bear in mind that the type of business you’re starting and your niche will affect how useful social media is for you.
In general, social media may end up being more useful for relationship building than traffic generation. Still important, but a different function. The bottom line is the social media sites haven’t replaced search engines for sheer numbers of traffic – and social media traffic can often be harder to monetize than search engine traffic. This is because searchers are looking for information and solutions, whereas social media participants are generally just hanging out and browsing.
Check out how your home page looks to search engines and people with the free Home Page Analysis. Want a deeper look at all your site's pages? Try an AboutUs Site Report.